


The Wall

by Skittles the Sugar Fairy (SkittlesFairy)



Category: Planes (Movies)
Genre: Death, Gen, Kinda, Sad, Some comfort, everything ends well, the wall - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-02-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 05:32:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9642752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkittlesFairy/pseuds/Skittles%20the%20Sugar%20Fairy
Summary: The Wall takes regardless of who you are. It doesn't care how old you are, who you might be leaving behind, it simply takes.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This has been re-written twice, posted once already and taken down so it could be properly worked on with some sleep at my side. Even now though it still isn't as good as it originally was before I lost the file. It's certainly better than what it was this morning.

It felt like everything was happening in slow motion. The two old RV's had been saved and miraculously made it despite the bridge crumpling literally beneath their tires. Unfortunately the universe wanted to even things out immediately and neither of the firefighters were prepared for it.  
  
"Dusty." Blade made sure he had eye contact with the young S.E.A.T. "Good move, partner." There was a faint smile on his face, proud that the training had really stuck, especially in such a dire situation.  
  
The words seemed to be the tipping point for the universe and the AgustaWestland watched in shock, the seconds stretching into hours as thick black smoke billowed from the small plane's exhaust and prop. The prop had seized, twitching as the racer tried in vain to make in spin, to get his engine going again.  
  
"Dusty, DUSTY!" No no no! Blade whirled after the younger aircraft, horror etched on his face, helpless to do anything for the plane. It was a barely controlled descent, the super heated air likely the only thing allowing the racer to glide rather than plowing straight down into the ground. It still wasn't enough though, he was going in far too fast with no way to slow himself or control the landing. The fire chief pulled back as heard trees snap, and saw pieces of the S.E.A.T. scatter in a trail of carnage. "No... Not like this..." It came out in a pained moan and the helicopter struggled to pull himself together, his own injuries pulling and weighing at him. He circled again, using his spot light to track the path of broken trees and parts of plane paneling. It stopped short, the young plane's body caught and twisted up in a close grouping of trees. Turning and swooping wide, he dropped the last of his retardant across the plane and the trees holding him up. It wasn't alot, but he hoped it would be enough to stave off the worst of the flames if they got close to the little plane.  
  
<Crophopper 7 this is Ranger 301 do you read me? Over.> He radioed over and over to static before he had to admit the truth to himself. A crash like that, at that speed... The kid was gone, there was no way his flimsy racer plating had held up to a crash like that. The fire continued to burn behind him but there wasn't anything more he could do, he couldn't scoop water and with no retardant at base he was useless. He'd told himself he would never be in this position again, and yet, here he was, helpless to do anything real.  
  
<Tower, Patch, I-we... Crophop-Dusty... Dusty crashed.> Radio etiquette flew out the door and it was a struggle to keep his composure. He swallowed thickly as he turned away from the body in the canyon and began the flight back to base.  
  
There was a moment of silence as Patch clicked over, unable to say anything as she gathered her bearings. With no call for immediate evac, she knew what the result had been. No one wanted to lose a team member, especially not a young one like Dusty, unfortunately things happened. <Copy that Chief, return to base. We'll make a call in the morning and see if we can't recover the body for his family.>  
  
Blade didn't bother answering as he flew back, doing his best to stay out of the embers and smoke. His filters and lines likely wouldn't tolerate much of anything and the last thing Maru needed was to try and stitch him back together even more so shortly after major repairs.  
  
By the time he made it back to the base, the rest of the air team had returned, unable to do much more with no way to collect water and no more retardant. The team crowded around the heli-pad and his landing gear creaked as he forced it to turn him to face his coworkers and friends.  
  
It was Dipper who spoke first, a frown marring her face as she looked skyward, no thrum of a smaller plane's engine following. "....Where's Dusty?" It came out shaky and pained, as if she already knew the answer but couldn't handle the reality that was presenting itself.  
  
"He crashed in Augerin Canyon." What little gentleness and diplomacy Blade had in him had been left behind with Dusty's body in the canyon by the falls. He rolled passed them, entire body tight with pain, both physical and emotional. It was by far one of his worst traits, how short he got when he was upset and his team was getting the brunt of it.  
  
"No no no no nononono!" It spilled out like a mantra from the seaplane, as if she said it enough it would become true. It quickly turned into a cry that devolved into an ugly wail that carried through out the entire base.  
  
"What happened?" Guilt tugged at Windlifter as he drifted after the other helicopter. He had been in charge and had let their least experienced firefighter go. He'd ignored his instincts, and now... Now there was a life that was gone. He should have sent Dipper, Dusty may have been faster, but her experience would have kept her safe.  
  
Blade glanced back at Windlifter and further back to Cabbie, who was trying to calm Dipper. He sagged on his landing gear, tired in a way that had nothing to do with his strained injuries. "His engine seized. He saved the two old RV's but...." His rotors both rattled before he could properly control himself.  
  
Windlifter turned away and looked towards the fire, the plumes of smoke raising towards the stars, the fire and it's ash bringing and eerie almost twilight to the base. "Day and night can not dwell together." The wind was still, and while there were no clouds on the horizon, he would take the stillness over the clouds. The fire would slow, and with the inbound firefighters from the neighbouring parks and counties, they would contain it. Some of the guilt lessened at the news, if it had been an engine problem it could have happened if the S.E.A.T. had stayed with them... But maybe if he had, the old Skycrane could have lifted him back to base. "You should see Maru." That he and Cabbie would take care of Dipper went unsaid, and as if summoned, the forklift came motoring swiftly out of his maintenance bay, no doubt drawn by the seaplane's heart wrenching cries.  
  
The AgustaWestland intercepted, rolling up beside the forklift before a larger scene could be made. He ignored his friend's questions and quietly backed into the maintenance bay, teeth clenched and eyes staring forward blankly.  
  
Maru rolled in only a minute behind, creeping forward slowly. He stopped in front of the helicopters nose before rolling to his side. He wasn't stupid, the lack of the little plane and Dipper's cries on top of Blade's own actions was enough for him to put two and two together. "Don't you dare."  
  
Blade didn't answer him and the forklift growled, eyes pained as he not so gently jabbed his friend in his dented side. "You heard me. This isn't your fault Blade, you didn't make him crash."  
  
"I may as well have." It came out short and the helicopter didn't meet the mechanic's eyes as he spoke. "He had a busted gearbox. He told me before we had to take shelter in the mine. I could have radioed Patch about it, or told you when I woke up."  
  
Maru jabbed a bit more ruthlessly this time, a growl from his engine leaking into his voice. "Did you steer him into the ground? Did you know the gearbox was busted and not tell him? He flew anyway Blade. It was a stupid and reckless thing to do and he crashed! Just like everyone else on The Wall, he did something stupid!" Another sharp hit and the helicopter flinched this time. "You trained him, you did all you could, but there's no cure for stupid."  
  
Blade didn't answer, but he sagged on his wheels all the same. It was so much easier to blame himself. "I couldn't save him Maru..." He'd been _right_ there and he couldn't save him, just like Nick. At least with the other PPAA crashes he hadn't been right there.  
  
"You can't save everyone Blade..." It was a soft admission, one that Maru had a hard time admitting to as well. He could do alot if he was there, but like every crash that had happened in Piston Peak, he was at base and they were out there.  
  
They were both quiet after that, only the sounds of the forklift tapping out plating and checking hoses and pressures filled the air. When he finally finished he realized that his patient had drifted into an uneasy sleep and the mechanic edged away slowly leery of waking him. He rolled out of the bay and down onto the tarmac where he could see their large C-119 lingering.  
  
The only one still up, or at least out of their hangers  had his nose pointed towards the bright light of the fire. With the smokejumpers still out there it was harder for him to relax, especially after hearing that they'd lost their S.E.A.T. Neither felt like talking, such heavy subjects were best left for daylight. He stayed with the C-119 for a solid hour before they both quietly retired for the night; when the sun came up they were all going to have a long day ahead of them.  
  
Patch was up and running things from the Tower before anyone else's wheel hit the pavemnet, and the back up that she had called last night was coming in from the north and the south. She was going to need someone closer to site to help coordinate, but thankfully the people that were coming in had all assisted in the past, whether from joint training operations or past large fires. She kept a steady stream of radio chatter and delegated some to Cabbie once she saw him roll out of his hanger. With his longer range radio she left the south side up to him and kept to the more northern areas of the park.  
  
On the tarmac they were at a bit of a standstill, with out any water pressure the only one they could deploy was Dipper and in her state neither Blade nor Windlifter was willing to risk it. The weather stayed on their side, the winds stayed away and the Chief was comfortable enough to recall the smokejumpers to base. It wouldn't do anyone any favours to work them into the ground, not when they had help coming in from all sides.  
  
Cabbie ran a pick up from the Lodge for them, and by the time they all had returned to base it was getting late into the afternoon. Once they were unloaded he softly broke the news to them and let them scatter to deal with their grief in their own ways. Avalanche was the first but eventually the rest of the team rolled back to Cabbie and huddled silently underneath his wings, taking solace in each other's presence. This wasn't the first they had lost in their team but it wasn't something that got easier each time.  
  
It felt like everything had been muted, no one spoke, or if they did it was kept to murmurs, everyone unsure how to deal with the loss. It had been easier in the night, to blame it on a lack of experience, on overconfidence, anything to turn the pain away. The smokejumpers and Cabbie stayed together and silent as Windlifter was loaded up, Patch had received radio confirmation that the area around Augerin Canyon was down to a smolder and safe enough for the retrieval. The two helicopters lifted off, the rest of the team slowly drawing in towards the helipad and the Tower to wait together.  
  
Blade led the way back to where Dusty had crashed, the site only looked more horrific in the daylight. It was easier to see the pieces scattered behind the small plane, a pontoon, what looked like an aileron and other pieces of wrent metal. With the little racer's body caught in the trees, it was a terrible and awkward dance for the helicopters to work in each other's rotor wash. Blade's hoist got the slings under the kid's nose and tail and only twenty minutes later they were easing back towards the base. It was a slow and somber flight and the sun was beginning to set as they finally made the approach to the air base. With careful maneuvering, Windlifter set Dusty's body down in the centre of the helipad, the slings slipping out from under his bent nose and then away from his tail.  
  
In the growing twilight, the twisted body of their trainee was all the more gruesome. Dusty's entire left side was crumpled in, and his prop was curved in towards the rest of his body. The left pontoon and attachment was completely ripped away, pieces of his underbelly completely exposed. He was missing more than his aileron from his left wing and his right wing was twisted up and at an angle. What wasn't crumpled or ripped away was heavily scratched and covered in black soot.  
  
Tears gathered in the eyes of all of the smokejumpers, and Dipper sobbed softly to herself. Even Cabbie, notoriously hard to rattle from his military days sank a into his landing gear. Maru rolled forward, grief clear in his face and eyes.  
  
"Oh kid...." The forklift murmured, his eyes taking in the damage with an unfortunately well practiced ease. There didn't look to be a single piece of the plane that wasn't mangled in some way. He lifted a fork to brush away a pine branch that had been caught up in the kid's exhaust and frowned. He leaned in a little closer, unsure for a moment before his eyes widened and he was yelling. "DYNAMITE! Get the tow hook, he's ALIVE!"  
  
There was a moment or so of unsure disbelief before the entire base was in motion. Maru was shouting orders, prying open the young planes bent hood and cowl to get to his engine and stabilize him. They'd been given a miracle and Maru wasn't going to squander it.  
  
It was touch and go for three days and the mechanic barely slept, which was better than Dipper who stayed in front of the mechanic bay, trembling with fatigue and worry. By the fourth day it looked like they were out of the woods and Maru put on the left pontoon, and after that there wasn't anything they could do but wait.  
  
By the fifth day everyone had drifted by the open hanger that made up the mechanic's work bay. Most had little to say, and the forklift didn't really care too much to speak to any of them. He was worn, mentally, emotionally and physically. That had been the closest he had ever come to losing someone at Piston Peak and he never wanted to experience it again. He puttered around, tidying what he could before The Wall lured him in. Every picture on it was a mark of failure to him. There really hadn't been anything he could do, like Dusty they had all crashed out in the line of duty where Maru couldn't even attempt to save them. "You don't get this one." He probably sounded and looked crazy, talking to the pictures, but after everything, he wasn't letting go, not of this little S.E.A.T, not now, and certainly not to The Wall now that the kid was safe back at base.  
  
If Maru had believed in things like fate or magic, it would have been like the universe was giving him a sign, because the moment he turned away from The Wall, he caught the bleary blinks of their S.E.A.T. making his way back to consciousness. From there the tarmac quickly became crowded as everyone tried to wiggle in close to see for themselves when they heard him shout.  
  
Everything was a whirlwind of activity and Dusty really only caught that he'd earned his certification before the smokejumpers were even further in his space, nudging him and condratulating him. When more people arrived, the new Superintendant included, the racer hung back, tired and overwhelmed by the amount of people.  
  
Thankfull most of what the extra people had shown up for was to check in physically on Dusty, and ensure that the base had finally gotten proper water pressure back. Jammer didn't stay too long, talking briefly with Patch and Blade. Maru let the S.E.A.T. roll around a bit, get some sunlight before he herded him back into the bay to be assessed.  
  
It was two hours before the mechanic let the small plane out of the bay and away from his jabbing forks. "Make sure you rest, I don't want to hear about you even _thinking_ about being in the air for the next two days, got it?" He got a tired and mumbled 'Yessir' and watched the young plane go, but not to his own hanger, no, of course the kid was pushing himself and rolling straight up to Blade's hanger.  
  
By the time he made it to the top of the little hill Dusty was exhausted. He hadn't even felt this tired after being fished out of the Pacific and having half of his parts replaced. Though he'd had a lot of anger fueling him at the time, so that probably helped. And well, from the way everyone had looked at him, he'd probably come a lot closer to dying this time than he had before. If he thought about it too much, it would be alarming how many times he'd brushed near death in the last year. He leaned against the door and let his eyes close for a moment. Just a moment to dreg up some energy and he'd knock and talk things over with the Chief.  
  
Unbeknownst to the little plane, Blade was doing the same thing on the other side of his hanger door. Face pressed against the wood, eyes closed as he tried again to deal with the feeling that kept eating up at him. The only reason the plane had made it to Maru was blind, dumb luck. He'd had no way of knowing Dusty was alive at the time, everything pointed to death and he hadn't questioned it. He'd left the kid out there, by himself, undoubtedly in horrendous pain and hadn't pushed for a recovery sooner.  
  
Realizing he was going to fall asleep against the door if he let himself, Dusty inched back and tapped his nose against the door. A loud rattle was heard on the other side and he frowned, calling out tiredly. "Blade?"  
  
The cheif cursed silently to himself, the knock and voice having startled him badly enough that he spun his rotor slightly and rattled the door and his wall with the blades. "Champ?" He gathered himself and slid the door open, eyes narrowed at the young plane sagging on his landing gear before him. "What are you doing up here? I'm sure Maru told you to rest."  
  
The racer grimaced at that and wiggled a bit in place. "Yeah... He did." He huffed slightly and looked up at the helicopter, quiet for a moment to draw up the courage to talk. "But I wanted to talk to you before that." And not in front of everyone either, since up here was about one of the few places that had any semblence of privacy.  
  
"What could you possibly need to talk to me about that couldn't wait until tomorrow?" Blade frowned, easing back a bit to allow the younger into his hanger. When he noticed the tired look in the other's eyes he suddenly wasn't so sure he'd still be signing off on that certification, and not because he was retracting it.  
  
Dusty rolled into the other's hanger slowly, clearly choosing his words carefully before he spoke. "I wanted to apologize... I should have said something about my gearbox sooner." He should have, and looking back it was foolish for not doing it, but it had been so hard to accept that everything he'd dreamed of was being snatched back away from him. "I could have gotten someone else hurt." Or worse. It was one thing to shrug off his own mortality, but going down, seeing Harvey and Winnie... if his gearbox had failed sooner, he wouldn't have been able to save them and that knowledge had lead him up here.  
  
That was not at all what the old helicopter had been expecting and he blinked slowly. "What?"  
  
The S.E.A.T. ploughed on, exhaustion creeping in a bit thicker. "I've had a lot of close calls racing, but never anything where someone else's safety hinged on me being able to fly properly." He shifted uncomfortably, unable to look the older aircraft in the eye anymore. "Are you sure I'm fit to be certified?"  
  
Unsure and upset kid was a lot easier to deal with and Blade rolled his eyes, thankful for the way that this was turning, even if it was unexpected. "Get over here." With a bit of twisting and bullying, Blade had the young plane beside him, huddled tiredly under his rotor span. Getting all situated had the added benefit of giving him time to put some words together.  
  
"Look Champ, I'm not gonna disagree with you, what you did was dangerous." Oh lookit him go, sinking down even more. "But," he interjected softly, watching the young plane carefully. "You did what any of us would have done. You've got the training down, short of working and getting more experience that way, there isn't anything else we can teach you. You risked your life for others, and that is at the core of every firefighter." He nudged the racer's wing tip carefully, making sure they were looking at each other properly. "And I sure as hell wouldn't offer if I didn't think you had earned it. Got that?"  
  
A slow, barely awake nod was his answer and it took everything in Blade not to snort at the look. "Nap here, I don't want to listen to Maru scream because you fell asleep and took a header off of the dirt ramp."  
  
"Yessir," Dusty mumbled mostly incoherently, exhaustion pulling him down swiftly into a thankfully peaceful rest.  
  
As the tension eased out of the racer, Blade sunk lower on his own landing gear. There was a lot of work yet to be done, in regards to the little plane, and what had happened but the small talk had left him feeling much better about certain things. The Wall hadn't claimed another victim and things would be alright. It would have to be enough for now.  
  
Closing his eyes, the helicopter let himself relax and settled down to get a nap in as well. Best to stave off any yelling from their mechanic about overdoing it while he was still on the mend. Things would be okay.


End file.
